


Forgotten Wish

by Manaya_Karyam



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, warning for imprisonment and forced labor that's also kind of coded like relationship abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 08:07:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7676734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manaya_Karyam/pseuds/Manaya_Karyam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Do you ever feel like there's something important that you can't quite remember? It's waiting at the back of your mind...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forgotten Wish

Ana did a magic trick. Nobody noticed.

She was in the middle of class, but nobody was looking her way.

She’d only just found out she could create wisps of blue sparkles in the air. It was surprisingly unsurprising. She felt like she’d always known, deep down.

She talked to herself:

Ana:  _ This is confusing. _

Ana:  _ Is it? You're a witch. What could be simpler? Kid, you're going to Hogwarts. _

Ana flickered her magic sparkles in front of her table partner, who asked if she'd dipped her fingers in glitter. Ana smiled. She couldn't wait to show her girlfriend.

Science class passed antsily. Then in English they had computers and Ana googled her “symptoms”, as it were. Lots of people on the internet believed in witchcraft. According to some sources, she could also eventually learn to fly, turn invisible, and astral project herself, except that the site where she read that, was maybe possibly complete bullshit. It was hard to know, wasn't it? When you could really do magic.

Or was it not magic but biology - was she secreting some luminescent gas - ?

She put that one aside for now.

As soon as the bell rang Ana raced out to the campus green, grabbed Kata, and towed her off to a sorta secret place they had, which was a hiddenish alcove next to the pool building.

Ana did a magic trick.

Kata did a small scream and went white as bleach. She shook her head vehemently. "Bad idea. That's - not something to mess with, Ana."

Ana went, "Huh?" She was hurt. "What do you mean? What do you know about it?"

If her girlfriend was already a witch without telling her -

"I... don't know. Don’t know how I know. But I think that's bad news, I think we can't afford anything unnatural."

_ Afford _ . Strange word choice…?

"I'm sorry... I don't get it," said Ana slowly, wanting to twist the mood back to happy. "What makes you say that?"

"For now," said Kata, holding her hand, "just recognize that it terrifies me and we should leave it alone, okay? Because... that's really all I know."

Even as Kata invoked the rules of good relationships, part of Ana's mind invoked the rules of only agreeing to things if you know why. The impulses clashed like gladiators. Romance jabbed logic through the chest. The crowd of Romans crowed and gave thumbs downs -

"Okay, Kata," she said. “I’ll do that for you, okay?”

So that’s how Ana discovered a talent for magic, and promised it away, all in one day.

Can you really blame her for what was going to happen?

* * *

For her part, Kata truly didn’t know a thing about magic, but truly was horribly scared of it. She couldn’t make heads or tails of the feeling she had.

Throughout the day, blue sparks danced in her mind’s eye, and she did her best to forget them.  _ Only darkness lay that way… _ was what some part of her mind seemed to think. As she got out of school for the day, the sky above seemed to wobble a little.  _ Shouldn’t mess with that stuff, _ she murmured to herself.

That night, Friday, the two girls were meeting on the roof of Kata’s apartment building to look at constellations. Wanting to show that she wasn’t mad or anything about before, Kata dressed up all nice and got a picnic blanket and some snacks in a basket that she found in the kitchen and she microwaved a bunch of taquitos. As you do. And when Ana arrived, she found it all  _ very _ sweet. And the taquitos very savory.

The two of them kissed a bit and cuddled with each other and with four sweaters total (it was cold outside at night).

Ana ate a lot of circus animal cookies.

And one -

by one -

by a few more -

the stars came out.

Ana hugged her girlfriend tighter through the sweaters. In this moment, she had no worries at all. Things were perfect in the heavens and the earth. Life tasted like candy.

You could see the stars well, considering it was an urban spot. One more winked into view, and then streaked downward - whoops, not a star, that one. A comet.

“Make a wish,” said Kata.

“I literally have nothing more to wish for,” Ana whispered into her ear. Then she giggled. Kata blushed.

Sweet, trilling music was drifting from somewhere nearby. Kata shifted slightly to look.

Her stomach lurched.

Ana looked too. The romantic mood became like a bumped vase, falling in slow motion toward the ground -

A hummingbird had fluttered in from somewhere. It was translucent, singing unnaturally, and glowing a distinctive blue. Magic.

(- and black smog started to gather at the back of Kata’s head -)

“I’m sorry,” said Ana. “I - I was experimenting some more. I just really -”

_ Not important now, _ thought Kata shortly. Thought patterns were kicking in that she’d never before used - but then, it had never before been an emergency. Acting automatically, Kata swiped her hand in a harsh motion that scrubbed the bird out of existence, as well as jostling Ana away. But even so, the sky overhead was blurring and smudging like a poorly taken photo. Things had been set off.

(-  _ drowssap,  _ was the word that appeared in Kata’s mind. A dangerous word, some kind of magic word, and yet it was there if she wanted -)

“We have to get down to the ground,” Kata heard herself say sharply. She got up, hoisting her girlfriend to her feet.

“W-What’s going on?” said Ana.

The first cracks appeared. The roof and the sky around it cleaved apart at an angle, jerking the ground out from under her and sending her down. Stars in the sky had jumbled around, wrecking the constellations. Kata’s palms smacked the hard roof.

“Drowssap!” The word burst out of her.

A voice sounded in her mind.

Kata:  _ Hello. _

Kata:  _ This is a recorded internal monologue from a past version of Kata. _

It sounded somber, heavy.

Kata:  _ You don’t remember, but you and Ana cast a spell long ago, and in doing so sacrificed both of your memories. A whole life was undone, replaced by false memories of a new, adopted world. _

Kata:  _ The reason you ran to another world? Well - _

* * *

Recovering her wits, Ana lifted the spaced-out Kata, who seemed to be listening to something, and dragged her toward the stairs as space distorted around them. The stars were disappearing, one by one.

_ He takes what you love, _ she thought automatically. Then,  _ Oh, god, who am I talking about? _

“Magic called him!” Kata spat, her eyes regaining focus. “We weren’t supposed to remember magic!”

“What do we  _ do?” _ yelled Ana through an invisible storm. But then a pressure gripped her head - no, her brain, her mind - and her thoughts were squeezed, they were pressed down into thin bands, and then they were halted,

 

* * *

* * *

* * *

 

 

Ana nearly missed the critical hour. Thankfully, in the midst of her sewing, her eyes happened to note the angle of the sun through the window. With a frightened gasp, Ana jolted up from her chair and raced upstairs, quickly changing into her maid outfit and returning to stand at attention near the door. As it turned out, she had a while yet to wait, but it wouldn’t have done to take the slightest risk of tardiness.

Several minutes later, the door clicked open and the other girl entered.

“Good evening, pet,” she said, walking up to Ana - whose breath tightened. “How are things around the house?”

“Peachy, dearest,” said Ana, maintaining a tremulous smile.

Kata’s hand came forth and picked up a lock of Ana’s hair, twining it around a finger. Ana fought the urge to scream, to run away.  _ I lived through yesterday and I shall live through tomorrow. _ A dirty itch seemed to spread over her scalp from the finger.

“This body is tired. Time to let the other pet go?”

Kata’s lips moved toward Ana’s - whose heart was pounding as she forced herself not to flee - and pressed down roughly. Kata’s tongue pushed Ana’s mouth open, and then the thing inside slithered through, and took over one girl, and released the other.

Kata sagged from fatigue as she regained control of her body. Ana’s eyes now stared at her with the same greed that she had felt swimming behind her own.

“May - may I rest?”

“You may,” came Ana’s voice, and Kata staggered to her bedroom, where she curled in a ball and shivered, clenching her hands into fists over and over, trying to feel like herself.

He had allowed her some nice things in the room, like a soft pink four-poster bed, and a chest of drawers, for if she ever acquired possessions of her own. There was some manner of sorcery that kept at bay the heat and aridness of the desert which lay outside the windows.

Kata shared the room with Ana, though they were never both in it at the same time. All Kata knew of that other girl was how messy she left the bed. Oh, and she knew from seeing her that they both lived with the same everpresent fear.

That face showed fear, but more often, the same face  _ caused _ it…

He would switch off, possessing one and using the other as a servant. There was no break. He had no separate body. He went often into the city, which was far away across burning sands, and when he did he stabled his host like a horse, and possessed someone else whom he kept there. The girls did not get to see the city.

They hardly had the energy to think about it.

Kata stared blankly at the roof of her bed. Somehow, the canopy had come undone at its corner. When Kata reached up to fix it, a note fell out.

_ Dear roommate - _

Kata’s heart raced in an entirely different way. The two of them were not allowed to communicate, so she didn’t often think of the other girl as a person. But in reality, she realized, there  _ was  _ a person behind Ana’s frightened eyes, when Kata was the host, and there was a person other than  _ him _ behind Ana’s cruel mask, when Ana was the host.  _ My roommate. _

_ I know it is a risk, but I want to try speaking together in this fashion. Maybe we can find solace in similar experiences. Of course, please try to separate this voice from the body you interact with. _

_ From the REAL ME to the REAL YOU, I’m sorry about it all. _

_ Signed, Ana. _

Kata wrote back:

_ It would please me greatly. _

Then she thought for a long time.

_ I am not certain what to do with our similar experiences, _ she wrote.  _ What is there to say? _

_ If you are amenable to a parallel conversational thread, we might try discussing everything BUT our experiences. _

Then she thought for an even longer time. And finally came up with,

_ What is your favorite color? _

_ Signed, Kata. _

* * *

 

The more they talked, the more they thought, _ this girl deserves so much more. _ They were used to giving up on themselves, but they weren’t used to giving up on each other. The more they talked, the less they gave up.

Sometimes He could tell that they were angry instead of sad, and he beat them up. Physical violence was worse than mere forced labor and possession. It was the “risk”. But it didn’t make them sadder, it just made them angrier.

They wanted to meet, for real.

Although Kata was afraid that when she saw Ana’s face under Ana’s own control, she would just feel the same revulsion as if it were his face.

And Ana was afraid that she didn’t have any love left because of all the anger.

And then there was the fact of it being totally impossible to meet as themselves.

But there was one thing on their side: it turned out Kata could do  _ magic. _

They worked it out. It wasn’t much, but Kata thought that, one night, while he was possessing her, she could make him sleep a little bit  _ deeper _ . And then she could get up under her own power.

The anticipated night came, and her spell seemed to work.

She walked out of the room, shakily, with the slimy thing still sitting in her throat but exerting no influence. The mansion was dark. She could be found out any minute by the monster lying inside her own body.

Ana crept out to meet her, and when they saw each other, it should have been beautiful. They were denied that. Ana felt love and revulsion, for two different people in one, and she wanted to throw up. They looked away from each other. Then Kata spoke, using an awkwardly high voice, to keep from sounding like him.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” Ana said, the same way.

And then they were talking, truly, to each other.

They went up to the roof, slowly getting comfortable with each other, and over the vast desert the stars were just now considering making an appearance.

They talked about what they supposed the city was like. Their imaginations were not well-practiced. Their lives had seen so little variation.

Hugging her knees, not looking at her roommate beside her, Ana felt terribly desperate for human contact.

“Do you think,” she said in a high voice, “if we hold hands, we could really be holding  _ each other’s _ hands, you know?”

“Let’s try,” said Kata in a high voice.

And she thought to herself...

Ana:  _ It’s okay. _

Ana:  _ Her hand will be soft and friendly. _

Ana: _It will be respectful. It will not take more than I give. And so it will feel_ _different_ _from his._

She slowly reached out, without looking. She touched skin.

Kata’s hand crushed hers like a vice. Ana screamed out in pain, she wasn’t injured but it  _ hurt _ , she jumped to her feet and ripped her hand away, and looked and saw, instantly, that  _ he _ had woken up. His stance, his expression, his control.

Kata’s mouth was slivered up in a smile that wasn’t Kata’s.

Everything was over; submission; control; it was time to slip back under, but Ana found she couldn’t do that. The entire pitch black sky and dry dead desert seemed to pulse with the despair and longing of eons. The world wanted to scream. Ana felt the world’s anger, and Ana screamed for it. She jolted into action, she ran toward the monster. She pulled back her unhurt arm, which was her dominant arm, and shoved it into Kata’s mouth, much too far, aggressively reaching until she gripped the horrible, slimy mass deep inside, and pulled with all her strength. Kata choked, her arms flailed. Then, disgustingly, they felt his true body start to tear. Ana held on. Kata’s arm whipped up, magically snatched a gun out of midair, and shot Kata in the heart.

Half of “him” came out in Ana’s hand as Kata fell down. She thumped down on the roof heavily. Time didn’t even slow down for it.

Ana would have been frozen, but her hindbrain made it a priority to fling the slimy thing as far as possible. Her revulsion for the wet, sticky feeling on her hand filled the rest of her blank mind. She shook and shuddered and started crying a little. And then she collapsed and started crying a lot.

It should have been meaningful, Kata’s death, but she was denied that, because it felt like she was crying mostly about the sticky feeling, and then about everything else, all blended together. She was howling crying. Screaming crying.

The crying used itself up and lessened, simmered down. And now she  _ was _ crying about Kata, specifically, if that was any consolation.

The stars were coming out.

One -

by one -

by a few more.

Ana bent her head back to look at them, kneeling beside the body, tears running down.

One more star glimmered, and then streaked downward.

“I wish -” Ana choked out. And then suddenly, as if those were the magic words, she heard a voice in her mind.

Ana:  _ Hello. _

Ana:  _ This is a recorded internal monologue from a past version of Ana. _

Not just a voice. Half-real pictures were shimmering up before her eyes, framed in glowing blue. There appeared a picture of Ana, whose lips synced with the voice. She was dressed strangely, in browns and furs and paint.

Ana:  _ You don’t remember, but you and Kata have been through countless worlds together, and experienced countless different lives. _

More images appeared, more and more than she could count. As many as the stars. All of them versions of Ana. Dressed in white silks. Dressed in a starred uniform. Dressed in a bulky suit. With amputations. With a mermaid tail. With glowing eyes. With freckles. Wearing armor. Wearing a bowler. Wearing a tiara. Wearing a snake. Wearing a sparkling smile.

Another Ana took over speaking. They began to alternate between a main few.

Ana:  _ Often it isn’t easy. _

Ana:  _ You’ve both been through so much. _

Ana:  _ We have been chased by many monsters. _

Ana:  _ We have sustained injuries, caught diseases, and endured emotional trauma. _

Ana:  _ But no matter what, you and Kata got through it together, every single time. _

Ana:  _ No matter what trial you’re facing, I promise it’s nothing to what you’ve already overcome. _

Ana:  _ So as long as you stay by each other, it will always turn out okay. _

Ana:  _ It will always turn out okay. _

Rather foolishly, Ana was looking back at the corpse, feeling as though somehow the reassurance would turn out to actually be true.

Ana:  _ It will always turn out okay. _

Well, realistically, if they had got through that many other dangers, it would be crazy to think  _ this  _ one was really different, right?

Ana:  _ It will always turn out okay. _

The corpse begged to differ.

The corpse bled slowly on the roof.

It had to end somewhere.

Ana covered her eyes and tried to push out all the rest of her feelings through her face. But crying wasn’t happening anymore. She felt scorched dry.

New old memories vaguely bubbled, seeping back from the other worlds. Other lives. She could do magic, too. She could travel between worlds. She could do it alone. She supposed she’d better. Anywhere would be better than here. But Kata would still be dead anywhere.

A critical thought suddenly jolted through her. She looked up at the swirl of images, looking for one in particular, she swore she’d seen it, and she hadn’t realized  _ what _ about that particular Ana was actually incredibly important -   
  


* * *

* * *

* * *

 

 

The person who called the emergency hotline said only that a teenager was bleeding badly in the city square. They didn’t reveal, until the victim had been collected by ambulance, that they had seen the teenager and their friend appear from thin air in a blue flash.

Even without the strange backstory, the two teens looked clearly out of place in the green, glassy solarpunk metropolis. Their clothes were rough and of dull color. The conscious one of the pair spoke a confusing dialect. They were relatively dirty.

The unconscious one was suffering from a stopped heart with at least five minutes of complications. Cerebral deterioration was stymied in the ambulance, and the damage up there was expected to be minor.

The patient existed in no records, so there was nobody conscious who could consent on their behalf to a heart mechanization, ardently though their friend tried to. So instead the patient was given a human heart, one of several kept in storage. The doctor apologized that there would be no significant improvement in heart functioning compared to the patient’s peak health before the injury.

As if further proof of foreignness was needed, the patient’s body was found to be almost completely devoid of nanites - save only the ones picked up naturally since the patient supposedly appeared from thin air in the city square. Sufficient nanites were quickly introduced to the body and told to deal with the minor complications. Finally, blood was replicated and restored, and circulatory and cognitive functioning were set to be resumed.

The patient and their friend were given time to reunite. Later, the officials would have a good deal of questions for them. And there really should be made a record of them somewhere. After all that, it remained to be seen what would happen next.


End file.
